1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a terminal to be pressed into a connector housing and to a connector with such a terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H08-321342 discloses a connector with a housing and a terminal that can be pressed into the housing. Press-in portions are formed on side surfaces of the terminal.
The number of the press-in portions could be increased in an effort to increase the force for holding the terminal fitting in the housing. However, each press-in portion scrapes the housing and removes resin that could otherwise be engaged by subsequent press-in portions. Thus, the holding forces of press-in portions pressed in later are reduced due to the resin removed as the previous press-in portions on the same side of the terminal are pressed into the housing. Therefore, the entire holding force is not enhanced considerably.
The holding forces of the later-inserted press-in portions can be enhanced by making the terminal wider at the later-inserted press-in portions than at the earlier-inserted press-in portions. However, the terminal becomes large if too many press-in portions are formed along the pressing direction on one side surface. Further, there is a limit in the dimension of a portion of the housing where the terminal is pressed in. Accordingly, it is difficult to form many press-in portions on one side of the terminal.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problems and an object thereof is to provide a terminal to be held in a connector housing with a larger force and a connector provided with such a terminal.